MOODYS CORP /DE/ Earnings Summary — Q3 FY2026

• MCO revenue grew 15% to $2.2 billion, driven by a 25% surge in Moody’s Investors Service (MIS) as capital market funding needs intensified.
• MIS Transactional revenue soared 34% year-over-year, reflecting broad-based strength in Corporate and structured finance issuance.
• Adjusted Operating Margin expanded by 440 basis points to 55.3%, demonstrating significant operating leverage within the ratings business.
• Moody’s Analytics (MA) ARR reached $3.7 billion, up 9%, led by double-digit growth in Decision Solutions and KYC segments.
• Shareholder returns were aggressive, with $2.2 billion in share repurchases year-to-date and an increase in full-year buyback guidance to $3.0 billion.
• A manual calculation of Q2 vs Q1 results (derived from 6-month totals) shows net income rising from $661 million in Q1 to $878 million in Q2.

Management narrowed its full-year 2026 Adjusted Diluted EPS guidance to $16.50 - $17.00. Revenue growth for the year is expected to be in the high-single-digit percent range, while share repurchase targets were increased from $2.5 billion to up to $3.0 billion.

Improving

The massive expansion in MIS transactional revenue and the upward revision of share buyback guidance suggest strong confidence in capital market recovery despite high interest rates.

Moody's assumes central banks will maintain a tightening bias with likely U.S. and ECB rate hikes remaining in 2026. Despite this, they expect global MIS rated issuance to increase in the mid-single-digit percent range, citing the growing importance of decision-grade intelligence and AI-driven workflows.